GETTING TO KNOW: Ken Overwater

By Jo Mathis
Legal News

Ken Overwater is a senior associate in the Detroit office of the Kitch law firm, and focuses his practice on commercial and construction litigation. He honed his trial skills as a public defender in Illinois and as a private attorney in Michigan, trying numerous cases before judges and juries.

Overwater received a bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan and his juris doctor from Loyola University School of Law. He is a member of the State Bar of Michigan, the Detroit Bar Association, and the Washtenaw County Bar Association. He is licensed to practice in Illinois and Michigan.
The Livonia resident also works as a director of theatre productions at his alma mater Divine Child High School, and also appears in theatrical productions throughout southeast Michigan. Overwater also plays hockey and golf—poorly, he says.

What is your proudest moment as a lawyer?
I was appointed to represent a young woman who was charged with DUI after crashing her car in an attempted suicide. As part of her plea, the court asked me to monitor her progress on probation. I helped place her in multiple homes and treatment facilities, where despite multiple setbacks, she survived and has thrived. She is now happily married, with two children and works in health care.
 
What is your happiest childhood memory?
Summer and winter trips up north with my family — except for the car rides.
 
What’s the best compliment you’ve ever received?
When I returned to practice after a hiatus, a colleague told me that I was “everything that’s good about attorneys.”
 
When you were considering law school, what was Plan B?
I would have studied philosophy in graduate school and become a professor.
 
When you look back into the past, what do you miss most?
I’m fortunate to have my immediate family in my life, but I miss friends and colleagues, particularly those I worked with in Illinois.
 
What were you doing in your last selfie?
Date night dinner with my lovely wife.
 
What is the best advice you ever received?
It’s actually quite recent. A brilliant friend officiated my wedding, during which he quoted James Baldwin: “You have to go the way your blood beats. If you don’t live the only life you have, you won’t live some other life; you won’t live any life at all.”
 
What’s a question you like to be asked?
Literally any question about any theatre production I’ve worked on; I will go on incessantly given the opportunity. You have been warned.
 
What question do you most often ask yourself?
"What’s next?"
 
If you could trade places with someone for a day, who would that be?
Meryl Streep.
 
What’s the most awe-inspiring place you’ve been?
St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican City.
 
What is one thing you would like to learn to do?
I want to learn music: singing, guitar, or piano, but I particularly want to learn the theory and mechanics of it.